Flickr photo courtesy of neilmcintyre.ca.
I love reading the Wall Street Journal. They have some of the best environmental news out there, and it always includes hard numbers and a realistic and practical economic perspective.
Two recent articles that non-subscribers like me should know about.
1. A front page story last week covered the race to make a viable battery that will power future electric cars, like the Tesla and the Phoenix Motorcars SUT that we have previously blogged about over and over again.
But there is one thing the car people won’t be charged up about: batteries. For all the hoopla, nobody yet has figured out how to make a small enough battery that will hold a big enough charge for these new cars — and not be a risk to burst into flames.
The limits of electric-car technology are achingly clear in one of the most-heralded cars on the drawing board: GM’s Chevy Volt. GM executives mention the prototype, which the Detroit auto maker aims to put into production in three years, nearly every time they discuss their vision for “gas free” cars. But GM still hasn’t solved the battery problem.
A handful of companies are racing to come up with a battery suitable for this next generation of electric cars. The competition pits big Asian battery makers against a gaggle of small start-ups, most of them based in the U.S. Each is trying to come up with a viable power source for long-range electric cars and for gasoline-electric hybrids such as the Volt, which rely far more on electricity than do hybrids currently on the market.
2. There’s a new plug-in luxury hybrid car in town from Silicon Valley that I had never heard of until today’s paper! The Fisker Karma, pictured above thanks to someone over on Flickr, will supposedly be able to go up to 50 miles on electric power, and will launch by late 2009. (Let’s hope their shipping schedule isn’t like Tesla’s – with delay after delay.)
The latest entrant is expected to be announced today at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit when Fisker Automotive Inc. unveils an $80,000 battery-powered luxury car it aims to begin delivering in late 2009. The Fisker Karma, a so-called plug-in hybrid, can go 50 miles on electricity before a small gasoline engine kicks in to generate electricity to charge a lithium-ion battery pack on board. The company has backing from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, perhaps Silicon Valley’s best-known venture-capital firm and a backer of household tech names such as Netscape Communications, Amazon.com Inc. and Google Inc.
On a side note, I am in the market for a new car this year. I am considering the old eco-standby, the Prius, of course. But I’m also considering one of these new clean diesels that are coming out later this year, so I can run biodiesel. Specifically, I am thinking about that new Honda Accord 2009 model year diesel that is supposedly about to launch.
Any new car suggestions out there? What should I look at?
Popularity: 7% [?]
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
the picture above is of the Fisker Tramonto- a coachbuilt Mercedes SL. The Karma is an entirely different vehicle. See more at their official website at http://www.fiskerautomotive.com
Thanks for the comment!
It was the only Fisker photo I could find on Flickr, and I didn’t realize they made other cars, so I thought maybe it was the same car.